


A Knight in not so shiny armour

by Sablewick



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Gwaine (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27174910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sablewick/pseuds/Sablewick
Summary: Gwaine intervenes when a visiting noble hurts Merlin.
Relationships: Gwaine/Merlin (Merlin)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 242





	A Knight in not so shiny armour

Gwaine knew that noble people tended to be arseholes. It was one of reasons he'd ditched his own nobility and worked so hard on fighting for equality. He'd seen what lack of consequences could do to a person. He'd been that person, and hated himself for it. His troll of a sister was still that person, no doubt even worse now. Being a penniless noble had given him a really good view of both sides of the equation and watching his sister claw her way into the good graces of the more fortunate by making staircases of anyone she could manipulate and tear down was a lesson Gwaine thought he was never going to forget. 

He did forget though. And he was kicking himself for it right now. Because if he'd been paying attention he would've realised immediately that it was the visiting lord that was making Merlin act so oddly.

Gwaine had only been a knight of Camelot for a couple of months. He hadn't seen anything untoward going on and had thought that maybe Arthur, despite being a giant prat himself, had some kind of influence over his people that made them behave. He at least made a point of pulling anyone else into line even if he didn't always manage to keep himself in check. Or maybe Gwaine had thought that Camelot was just, in general, populated by better people than other kingdoms Gwaine had lived in. 

If he didn't see it and nobody said anything, it wasn't there, right? He'd forgotten one important factor.

He was once again, a noble. And commoners weren't about to complain about the nobility in front of him let alone commiserate with him or complain to him like they might have done had he been just another common patron of the tavern.

They'd go as far as to pretend anything untoward didn't exist because that was the privilege of the ruling class, to not see those beneath them.

Gwaine had been so wrapped up in his safe little noble bubble that he hadn't even thought to check. Even Merlin hadn't come to him for help. 

In hindsight he could see why. There had been occasions where he and the knights had ribbed Merlin and made life difficult where, had they been equals it would've been just a bit of good fun and something to laugh about, the knights did it to each other all the time. But given the class difference they took on a very different light. And now that he thought about it, when silly boyish entertainment was going down Merlin rarely, if ever, participated in ribbing the other knights. The only person he did that to was Arthur, funnily enough. But they were weirdly close and seemed to have an understanding about it.

And while Arthur was incredibly fond of Merlin and allowed him to get away with an insane amount of disrespect, he still made it very clear that Merlin was a servant, not his equal, and mocked him more than anyone else. Gwaine didn't like to stick his nose into their dynamic but there were probably times when he should've stepped in and at least diverted Arthur's attention. Gwaine knew what it was like to be the butt of the joke, it wasn't fun. And if no one was standing up for you when you needed them to it could feel like nobody was on your side at all.

So it was understandable that Merlin might not seek him out for help in deterring an idiot noble from ‘reprimanding' him even when it escalated to abuse. 

It didn't make sense that Merlin would actively try to hide it when Gwaine was there to witness it though, nor that he would try to defend the floofy upstart and apologise to THEM for the misunderstanding while shoving Gwaine out the door.

Gwaine only refrained from poking his sword at the guy and allowed Merlin to drag him away because Merlin's chest was bleeding and that was more important. He'd come back and stab the guy later.

As soon as they were out of ear shot Gwaine pulled Merlin into an alcove to take a look at the wound. He tugged the collar of Merlin's shirt aside, revealing a triangular divot in his chest where the corner of the box the guy had thrown had hit him. Blood was trickling all the way down his front. 

Gwaine wanted to march back and pick a fight immediately, but Merlin still had a solid grip on his elbow so he refrained. Pulling a kerchief out of his pocket, he pressed it firmly to Merlin's chest.

Merlin allowed it, rolling his eyes.

"Well that one's a right bastard." Gwaine said quietly, hoping Merlin would fill him in on what was going on. There had to be some reason Merlin was letting this slide. Gwaine didn't want to stick his nose where it wasn't wanted though, if Merlin wanted help he would ask. He was always so cagey about things, even while seeming to be incredibly open. Gwaine hoped that continuing to reassure Merlin that he was available to ask would one day result in Merlin actually trusting him. Unfortunately, that also meant he had to reign in his temper which was very difficult to do when he had the image of a cowering Merlin fending off an angry noble so present in his mind.

These things were always easier when the solution involved beating the living shit out of the arsehole responsible. It was cathartic for Gwaine and even if they didn't learn anything from the experience they at least had to suffer the injury afterwards. Being forced to button it all up to make sure Merlin wasn't just as wary of him as he was of his original attacker was really hard for Gwaine when he felt like he hadn't solved the problem.

It was particularly difficult with Merlin because not only was he having to reel in all his anger, he also had to fight the overwhelming urge to touch him. To comfort him and also to reassure himself that Merlin was ok. He desperately wanted to give him a hug.

That would be weird though. Merlin barely accepted hugs after potential near death experiences, randomly hugging him in the middle of the hallway over a bit of yelling was way over the top no matter how distressed Merlin looked. Besides, Merlin wasn't really the hugging sort and Gwaine didn't know if that was just the way he was or whether he'd trained himself out of it.

He didn't even seem all that comfortable with Gwaine standing next to him holding a hand to his chest. Though that could've been residual discomfort from the situation he'd just been in.

"You alright there, Merlin." Gwaine murmured. 

Merlin snorted incredulously. "I'm fine."

Gwaine nodded, accepting the words even though he didn't believe them. 

He was not fine, Gwaine could tell. He was nervous and twitchy and trying to hide it. He was shaking and obviously coming down from an adrenaline high. What had happened before Gwaine had showed up? What would've happened if Gwaine hadn't turned up and given him a convenient escape route? 

Gwaine flipped the kerchief back to check if the bleeding had slowed, wincing as he replaced it. 

Merlin lifted his hand to hold it himself and seemed to relax a bit when he realised Gwaine wasn't going to interrogate him. He gave Gwaine a cheeky grin which was a little forced and somewhat less dazzling than usual.

"Let's hope Arthur doesn't want to keep this one around, hey." His face grew a little pinched for a moment, as if he were imagining the horror of that eventuality and Gwaine felt anger begin to burn through his insides again.

"He's trying out for a knighthood then." Gwaine could feel a plan forming. "When's his trial?"

Merlin paused for a moment, as if he could tell where this was going and he didn't know whether telling Gwaine was responsible or not. "Tomorrow."

"Well then," Gwaine winked at him and wrapped an arm around Merlin's shoulders, steering him towards Gauis's chambers. "Let's get you patched up. It looks like I've a long night ahead of me."

***

Lord whatever his name was did not become a knight. He barely made it to his trial fight. 

To be fair, the hill climb to the training ground was rather steep, and he was really, really drunk. A few hours earlier and Gwaine might've had difficulty getting there himself. He was, however, a shade better at handling his liquor than the Lord though so he'd sobered up just in time.

The day's training session was going to be brutal, but the lopsided grin Merlin had sported when the Lord went face down in the mud was going to carry Gwaine through to the end of it.


End file.
